James L. Schoff

Senior FellowAsia Program

Schoff is a senior fellow in the Carnegie Asia Program. His research focuses on U.S.-Japan relations and regional engagement, Japanese politics and security, and the private sector’s role in Japanese policymaking.

Education

MA, International Relations, Johns Hopkins University School for Advanced International Studies
BA, Duke University

Languages

English

Japanese

Contact Information

Resources

James L. Schoff is a senior fellow in the Carnegie Asia Program. His research focuses on U.S.-Japan relations and regional engagement, Japanese politics and security, and the private sector’s role in Japanese policymaking. He previously served as senior adviser for East Asia policy at the U.S. Office of the Secretary of Defense and as director of Asia Pacific Studies at the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis (IFPA).

At the Department of Defense, Schoff was responsible for strategic planning and policy development for relations with Japan and the Republic of Korea. He also spearheaded trilateral initiatives and regional security cooperation issues, including North Korea and missile defense, disaster relief, and maritime security.

From 2003 to 2010, Schoff directed Asia Pacific Studies at IFPA in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he specialized in East Asian security issues, U.S. alliance relations in the region, and nuclear nonproliferation and extended deterrence. Prior to joining IFPA, he served as program officer in charge of policy studies at the United States-Japan Foundation in New York, following six years living in Japan and other parts of Asia working in the fields of business, education, and journalism.

Schoff has written extensively on East Asian security and foreign policy issues. His publications include: Uncommon Alliance for the Common Good: The United States and Japan after the Cold War (Carnegie, 2017), “What Myanmar Means for the U.S.-Japan Alliance,” (Carnegie, 2014), a chapter in Strategy in the Second Nuclear Age; Power, Ambition, and the Ultimate Weapon (Georgetown University Press, 2012), and Tools for Trilateralism: Improving U.S.-Japan-Korea Cooperation to Manage Complex Contingencies (Potomac Books Inc., 2005).

The Carnegie

Podcast

Carnegie Senior Fellow James L. Schoff discusses his research on U.S.-Japan relations and regional engagement, Japanese politics and security, and the private sector’s role in Japanese policymaking.

The Carnegie Podcast is a regular series hosted by Tom Carver featuring commentary and analysis from Carnegie experts on critical global issues.